The Hell in a Handbasket Job
by Jasmine628
Summary: The job goes well, but it's all down hill from there. Please review!
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage or any of its characters. I am not associated with Dean Devlin or any other producers on the show. I am not associated with TNT, or any of it's parent companies. All original characters, however, are owned by me.**

**What? I dated a lawyer. **

**Author's N****otes: Don't worry, this is just a prologue. The actual chapters will, hopefully, be much better, and have much more dialogue. **

When Sophie first introduced this crazy scheme of hers to Nate, he never thought he would have actually gone along with it. Yet two weeks later here he was trying to wrap up the gig.

The client was an old friend of Sophie's she knew back in school named Lily Clemens. Lily had recently gotten married, and her and her husband Michael decided to move from their apartment to a house they could raise a family in. Unfortunately, their "real estate agents" had other ideas in mind. These "real estate agents" were really two conmen who had been in the business for a long time, preying on the innocent-minded to get what they want, which was-of course-money. These "agents" had a website where you could look at cheap run-down houses on the market that were in the process of getting fixed up. After picking a house you were interested in, you met with the "agents" to discuss price and see pictures of the house. (The potential buyers never actually saw the house, because it was currently a construction site and therefore "too dangerous for the buyers"). After making the sale and getting the money, the "agents" sent it to an untraceable off-shore account.

When Lily and Michael were never contacted again about their new house, they tried contacting the "agents" but-of course-couldn't find them. When trying to contact the company itself they realized that all the phone numbers were no longer in service, and that all of the addresses were fakes, and usually led to abandoned warehouses or other storage facilities. Then, like most people would, Lily and Michael contacted the police. The police, unfortunately, couldn't do anything because they had no evidence, no idea how to track down the "agents" who sold them the house, and Lily and Michael didn't even know the "agents" real names. It was as if they had vanished into thin air…the perfect con.

But, it wasn't so perfect for Lily and Michael who had lost their entire life savings to the conmen. So, they did what any sane (or maybe not so sane) person would do…they contacted the Leverage offices.

After having an _ohmygodwhathaveyoubeenupto?howareyou?_ moment with Sophie, Lily recounted her tragic tale_, _immediately gaining Sophie's support. Who then brought it to Nate.

The second Nate heard about the Clemens situation, he subconsciously put on his _aahhhcrap_ face. After Sophie asked (a.k.a. nagged) for about twenty minutes, and with the added help from a thirty-year-old scotch that had mysteriously gone missing (thanks to Sophie), he spilled.

Nate would recognize his work anywhere. Every detail **screamed** William Travers. William Travers was an ex-insurance agent, like Nate. Travers, however, didn't quit for reasons like Nate's, he was fired. He was fired for moonlighting (and in this situation moonlighting meant being paid by thieves to tamper with, and destroy evidence that would send them to jail). But before he was fired, he was Nate's partner. And Nate was the one who discovered Travers' "extra-curricular activities". Instead of turning Travers in, Nate, who had become good friends with Travers over the years, told him that if he stopped what he was doing and worked to help catch the thieves who bribed him, Nate wouldn't turn him in. Unfortunately, Travers wouldn't go for it. Instead he ran.

Nate searched for him for months without a trace before giving up. But the second he heard this story, all the bells in his head went off, and he knew instantly that Travers' was the brains of this outfit. This case meant thinking about the past for Nate, which he never liked to do, and the case was also going to be a challenge, because Travers was good at what he did. Very good.

Despite all this, Sophie managed to get Nate to go for it with the amazing use of her talents (or by casting a spell on him as Parker believes). Either way, it worked.

Nate and Sophie spent three very long days coming up with the perfect plan. They all spent another three days for prep, and they all took off the night before the job started.

The con itself took about one week to execute. And _boy_ did they execute it well. The whole thing went off without a hitch. They shut down Travers and his business partners, got the Clemens' money back (and then some), and took some money for themselves (and then some…and then some more).

With the con done, and their money in the banks, the team decided to enjoy a victory dinner at the offices. At the end of the meal Nate made a victory toast. "To a job well done. May there be many more like 'em." The entire team raised their glasses and repeated back in unison: "A job well done."

And that's where all the trouble began…


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I still don't own Leverage. And I also don't own Cliff Notes. (Don't worry, you'll understand what I mean in a little bit.)**

**Author's notes: This one actually has dialogue in it so...Yeah!**

The hair on the back of his neck rose, and he started to get that weird feeling he got, when he thought he was being watched.

Eliot looked around the café from his seat in the back corner. He didn't see anything unusual, but his instincts told him that something wasn't right. And his instincts were never wrong. So he decided to wolf down the little food he had left, and got out of there as soon as he could.

As he was leaving the café he saw a black van parked across the street. And decided to take note of the suspicious-looking car.

On his way home Eliot decided to take the long way home. He would make unnecessary turns, double back by making u-turns, and didn't take the direct route home. This way he'd be able to spot a car if it was following him. None of them were, but ever since the restaurant, he couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched.

_I'm being paranoid,_ he thought to himself. _I gotta stop watching all those horror movies with Hardison, it's startin' to go to my head._

When he got home he was feeling exhausted. The extra driving had cost him an hour, so it was now approaching 12:30. He had been up since 6 A.M., and he never got a chance to drink all of his coffee at the café, so he was ready for bed.

He kicked off his boots near the front door, and headed for the kitchen. After he grabbed a beer, he noticed his phone had a new message on it. He sat on the couch and pushed play on his voicemail.

It was Hardison. "Hey man. It's me. I know it's late, and you're probably gonna beat me up for this…but I need you to come down to the offices. Now, calm down. Before you pull a Hulk and get all big and green and start throwin' things 'cause ya mad, just hear me out. I need you to come down here so you can take a look at somethin' for me. And no, it can't wait 'til tomorrow. So…see ya' in a few."

Contrary to Hardison's belief, Eliot hadn't turned green-instead he turned red. _I can't believe he wants me to drag my ass down there just so I can look at something stupid for him. It's probably just gonna be some new application for that stupid World of Witchcraft thing, or whatever it was called,_ thought Eliot. He took an angry sip of his beer and then slammed it down on the table.

Despite himself, he got up and started moving toward the door. He didn't know why he was doing this, pre-Leverage Consulting Eliot never would have done this. In fact pre-Leverage Eliot wouldn't have even bothered to listen to the whole message. But somewhere in the back of his mind was a voice that told him that what Hardison wanted him to see could be important. So he pulled on his boots and left his apartment heading for the car.

Eliot was the last one to reach the office. Apparently, Hardison had called the whole team down. Eliot walked into the conference room where the whole team was gathered talking to each other.

"Yeah I still don't understand what that means," Nate slurred out.

"Maybe it's because your drunk," reprimanded Sophie.

"No. I _was_ drunk, now I'm sober," he corrected, "My last drink was more than an hour ago. And I only had a glass or two of scotch."

"Just because you've stopped drinking doesn't mean you're sober," declared Parker.

"Actually, Parker that's _exactly_ what that means," stated Hardison.

"No, what she meant was, that just because he's not _currently_ drinking-"

"I disagree, I think-"

"-exactly what I said-"

"I agree with Nate-"

They all started to talk over each other. And it kept getting louder and louder until--

"Alright enough!" Eliot yelled form just inside the door, "Now, can someone please update me on what's goin' on."

After a couple of seconds of silence, Hardison finally spoke up. "I was just explaining to everyone what I called them in for."

"And it made no sense," mumbled Nate.

"It made perfect sense," replied Sophie. (Apparently Sophie had better hearing than Nate thought).

"Either way," Eliot said, slightly louder than necessary to get Nate and Sophie's attention, "can you just give me the Cliff Note's version."

"Fine. About an hour ago I was on my computer playing World of Warcraft."

_Oh yeah, that's what it's called._

"And I was totally kickin' this trolls butt even though-- But, I digress…," Hardison amended after getting looks from everyone. Except Parker. But that was probably just because she thought it was a real troll.

"Anyway…A couple of months ago I installed this new application to my computer. It'll alert me if anyone ever tries to hack into my computer. And while I was playing my game it went off. At first I thought maybe a virus from the game tripped it, but then I started trying to track the source. And I couldn't find it. I mean I. Couldn't. Find. It.," he said, emphasizing every word.

"Meaning what?" Eliot asked.

"It means that it was a professional. It means that a professional hacker was trying to get something out of Hardison's computer," Nate said, forced out of his partially-drunk haze by that harsh realization. "Any idea what they were looking for, and if they got it?" Nate said, now totally focused on the problem at hand.

"Information. They pulled my files on the offices, on all of us, and on our cases. Whoever it was they knew what they were doing, because they got it all."

"Do you think it was the police, or the FBI?" asked Sophie.

"No I don't think so," Nate said deep in thought.

"Wait. More importantly, why do you have files of each of us?" Parker inquired.

"Uhhh…" Hardison froze.

Parker kept rambling. "What's mine say? Can I read it? Can I read yours? Can I--"

"Wait?" Eliot interrupted "How is that more important?"

"He invaded my privacy. And I take that personally."

"There's something' wrong with-- oh never mind. Can we focus on the fact that someone just got all the information on us they needed. And we don't even know who they are, or what it is they want."

The room fell silent as they all sat in deep thought, finally realizing how serious the situation was.

They probably would have stayed frozen like that, if there wasn't a loud thud that shook them out of there reveries. They all turned there head sharply toward the door just in time to see it be kicked in by a large group of men. And before they even realized what had just happened, they saw the man make a beeline straight for them.

**Oh. And PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE give me some reviews.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: FYI, the last line of chapter two read: "And before they even realized what had just happened, they saw the MAN make a beeline straight for them." Sorry, that was a typo. It was supposed to read "the MEN make a beeline straight for them." Oh, and sorry it took me so long to update, I'll try to update more often from now on. Anyway, back to the story…**

Eliot was the first to come out of the initial shock after only a few seconds. He was already formulating a plan while the others were waiting for their minds to start working again.

Eliot made a quick headcount of the intruders. There were six of them. They seemed to be in a diamond formation. Three in the front in a straight line, two more (holding guns) to either side of the first three (and slightly farther back), and one man standing in the back. Eliot couldn't get a clear view of the man in the back, but assumed that his location meant that he would be hanging back while the other five men fought. This meant that he was most likely, their leader.

Eliot and his years of training knew that taking out the leader was like going for somebody's head to end a fight--it always worked unless you're dealing with cockroaches or chickens. Seeing how these men weren't cockroaches or chickens, he decided to stick to the go-for-the-leader strategy.

In those few moments it took Eliot to come up with this strategy, the rest of the team had finally gotten into motion. They all gathered behind Eliot waiting for his cue to tell them what to do.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Eliot sprang into action.

Eliot moved full-force toward the three in front, then suddenly made a turn causing him to plow into the gunmen on the left. While keeping the gun pointed away from himself, and more importantly, his team, Eliot took out the first gunmen with a couple of elbows to the face, and punches to the gut. During this struggle the gun went off, luckily, instead of hitting himself or the others, the bullet lodged itself into the second gunmen's head, causing the second gunmen's gun to go flying back.

Two down.

The three men in front, after being faked out by Eliot, moved toward the team. One went for Nate, another for Hardison, and the other for both Parker and Sophie.

Parker, having basic fighting skills (and having taken lessons with Eliot on how to fight) lunged toward the man coming at her. Before letting the man's shock of seeing an (at most) hundred and twenty pound petite blonde launch at him, Parker kicked him right in the chest. Though not as powerful as one of Eliot's kicks it managed to knock him back. She preceded to hit the assailant with a spinning jump kick, that made Sophie (who was watching in complete shock) audibly gasp. After a good-old-fashioned punch in the face, and a knee in a slightly lower place, Parker's attacker finally fell.

Three down.

During this time, Nate and Hardison, who hadn't taken any lessons from Eliot and couldn't spin in the air like Parker, were being wailed on by two of the men. Because of this, Eliot (instead of going for the leader) went for those two.

He punched the one attacking Hardison, stunning him long enough to turn to the one attacking Nate. Eliot grabbed him, and practically threw him in the other direction as Hardison's previous attacker. Eliot then turned his attention back to the man he had just punched, who was starting to come at him.

During the fight, Sophie was beginning to feel more and more useless. Not only did she not even throw a punch yet, she was watching her team members get beaten. At that moment she remembered that in the battlefield, (that not only two minutes ago was their lobby) was a gun lying on the floor. Even though she had no idea how to fight she certainly knew how to shoot a gun. Just ask Nate.

While trying to avoid the chaos that had ensued in their once peaceful office, Sophie began to look for the gun. She made her way to the dead gunmen trying to see if the gun was still near him.

It wasn't.

She kept looking, but due to how late it was, it was hard to see very well. So she got on all fours and began to feel around, hoping she would bump into it sooner or later--preferably sooner.

_I can't believe I'm crawling on the office floor…And in my new shoes! _She mentally slapped herself for thinking about shoes while her teammates' lives were in danger. _Sophie! How could you possibly be thinking about your shoes at a time like this?! No matter how cute they are…or expensive…or how good they make your legs look…or--Ahh! I have to focus. _

After focusing herself on the task at hand, she finally found the gun she was looking for. She went to pick it up, but for some reason couldn't lift it. _Maybe it's underneath something. _She moved her hand up what she thought was the object pinning the gun to the ground.

_Oh crap. _She thought after realizing what it was. _Oh double crap. _She thought after realizing _who_ it was.

"Looking for this?" the man said, holding the gun in his hand.

With Sophie's hands still wrapped around his foot and leg, the man pointed his gun right at her head.

"Stand up."

She did as she was told and rose, too afraid to try and run or fight back.

"Turn around."

Again, she obeyed the order. He wrapped one arm around Sophie, pinning her arms in place, and used his other arm, to hold the gun to Sophie's head.

A loud whistle was heard throughout the room, freezing everyone in place. Sophie and the man holding a gun to her head instantly became the center of the room.

"Put him down."

This order was directed at Eliot, who was currently pummeling one of the only two conscious assailants left.

After getting an affirmative nod from Nate, Eliot did as he was told.

The assailant, now bloody and swollen, got up and went over to where Sophie was, cursing under his breath as he went.

As a unit, the three of them slowly made there way over to the center of the lobby, where there was more light.

When they stepped into the light, an audible gasp could be heard from the other four members of the team, after realizing who it was.

William Travers.


End file.
